Dreaming in Digital

I worked at a kiosk in a mall selling cigarettes during the Christmas season. There was a variety of flavours and countries, and sizes. Kanye West worked beside me as the stand's security, but he spent most of his time reading the worker's contract. I had trouble with a customer that was about to steal, but Kanye grabbed his wrist and nonchalantly told him to leave. Our manager came at the end of the day to help me close shop. He told Kanye he got a complaint for telling a loud customer to “shut up” while he used a light blue highlighter on his contract. He also gave me one to read and sign. It was a short contract with very few conditions, and some strange ones as well. Having to submit a 5” x 7” portrait photo of myself was one of the rules I can remember.  

I went to a cottage with Cookie and his family. I brought us a meal I cooked for us and his cousin was cooking breakfast. His three year old nephew came to me, wanting to play, but I had to eat breakfast, I said. He was cooked some seitan bacon and it was placed in my plate on top of pork bacon. I got up, asking for another plain plate to transfer the bacon and wondering if it's still okay for him to eat because he's vegan. When his cousin finished cooking breakfast, we all took our plate and sat down. They were completely filled with perfectly round meatballs and I struggled to keep them on my plate. As I sit down, the mearballs fall off my p;ate and onto the bench we all sat on. As I picked up my food, I heard the television play, “I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You” from the Zorro movies with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Finishing my shift at a retail store, I left the store, and exited into the sunshine. It was sunny and beautiful by the beach. I shaded my eyes with my hands and saw Oliver Queen waving me over. In his arms was his three year old daughter and he wore a red, unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with lavender Bermuda shorts. His wife was sitting beside him building a sandcastle with another child of theirs.

I ran towards them and he gave me a hug. Looking behind me, he said, “look who's giving you goo-goo eyes still.”

I look and see crowds of people exiting the way I came and Honeycrisp staring at us. His hair was long and tied back and wore relaxed suitwear.

“You think?” I asked rhetorically.

“Uh-huh.”

Honeycrisp ran to us and said something I don't remember as Ollie received a call. 

“We've got to go,” he said, as some crystal shapes zoomed out of the sky snd into our hands, except Honeycrisp's. I waved goodbye as we were teleported away.

I worked in an assembly factory where I made a friend. He was small, and skinny, and always seemed like the generation before after me. I'd train him when he arrives on shift, and everyday, there was a new job.

I met Oscar Issac here. He was one of the employees. He acted young, appreciative, and friendly. He was loved by all the employees and always wore a white muscle shirt that showed off his body.

One day, he mentions he needs two bottles of alcohol for a party, and I volunteer to get them. I chose a red wine, and a whiskey named “No. 9”. I gave these bottles to him the next day and he was appreciative. He told me he's like another bottle, but I'd forget to order it.

It was finally our day off on the weekend, I walked past the clubbing district of the city. There was the younger, skinny friend I made. He was in line. We chatted until a wrestler from an entertainment show showed up and distracted him, so I left him to continue my tasks.

In a makll, I ran into Oscar who was leaving one store. I said my hellos and excuse me, and instead of going home, he decided to follow me. We ran into Shortbread, and went into a discount store together. The owner, a small, Asian woman, eyed us because we carried back packs. I don't remember what I was looking for, but concluded it wasn't here. 

Shortbread needed to go to the bank, and I told them I was going to get No. 9 from the LCBO. We agreed on a meeting place, and Oscar came with me.

I slipped in front of a store that had closed. My hands broke my fall, and When I go to my feet, my palms were covered in shattered glass. Oscar;s attention was on the television behind the closed storefront.

I watched and understood his shock. On screen was a robot demanding the enslavement of humans and they will rule over us. It didn't seem like a false broadcast, but real.

Soon, screaming filled our ears and we looked around. Robots had come into the mall and smashed tables, benches, walls, and glass. Shortbread ran to us, asking what was going on. Wr told her to run, and the three of us ran to an exit.

“Over there!” Oscar exclaimed, pointing. Waiting for us was a cheaply made rowboat. We climbed in and grabbed oars as a current of water began to flood the street around us. As the boat was lifted by boyancy, I asked if this was his boat and he replied it was. It struck me as strange, but lucky. We rowed away from the mall.

A day or so later, I woke up on the boat. Shortbread and Oscar were paddling. The sky was pink and rising, and debris floated around us.

It was the end of the world.